To the editor:

Is there no room left for discretion and common sense? Apparently not; the Journal-World last week editorialized in favor of a bill (House Bill 2732) that would make it a crime to leave a child alone in a car, and the House approved the bill 79-40. When I drop off a package at a friend’s house, I park in the driveway, turn the car off, take the package to the door, and am back to my children in the car within about 30 seconds. You cannot persuade me that this constitutes negligence, and yet this will now be a crime.

Aren’t the current laws against child abuse and neglect sufficient for prosecuting cases that do in fact involve negligence? Do we need more laws managing the minutiae of our daily lives?

The bill calls for “a program of public education” about “the dangers of leaving young children unattended and unsupervised in motor vehicles.” I applaud this portion of the bill, because such an education program could increase the public level of common sense on this issue, the lack of which (evidenced by leaving children alone in unlocked, running cars or leaving children alone in cars for long periods of time) has led to the perceived need of this new law.

Rachel Hile Bassett,

Lawrence